Petition to stop Nigerian Stoning

[Johnny E]

Remember the Nigerian woman who was sentanced to death by stoning for adultery? The date's been set...


AMNINA LAWAL SET TO BE STONED ON 3RD JUNE

The Nigerian Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence for Amina Lawal, condemned for the crime of adultery on August 19th 2002, to be buried up to her neck and stoned to death. Her death was postponed so that she could continue to nurse her baby. Execution is now set for June 3rd.

If you haven't been following this case, you might like to know that Amina's baby is regarded as the 'evidence' of her adultery. The father denied everything when he realised the trouble he was in. To find out more about sharia law, see
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theissues/article/0,6512,777972,00.html


Amina's case is being handled by the Spanish branch of Amnesty
International, which is attempting to put together enough signatures to make the Nigerian government rescind the death sentence. A similar campaign saved another Nigerian woman, Safiya, condemned in similar circumstances.

By March 4th the petition had amassed over 2,600,000 signatures.

It will only take you a few seconds to sign Amnesty's online petition. Go to the web page
http://www.amnistiaporsafiya.org

Enter your first name in the space marked "nombre", last name ("apellidos"), county or state ("provincia"), country, and In the drop down box pick Reino Unido (United Kingdom) or Estados Unidos (USA). Then click on "Seguir" and go to the second page. There you have the option of entering your email address if you wish to receive follow-up information. In any case, be sure to click on "aceptar" to have your name added to the petition list.

Please sign the petition now, then copy this message and send it to everyone in your address book.

[BeRiGaN]

Thanks for posting this Johnny, hope there is some chance this will work. Hard to believe we are in the 21st century. By the way, was there a listing for the U.S?

[Jazzmoose]

BUT...before you click on THAT link, you might want to click on THIS link...URBAN LEGENDS (http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl-amina-lawal.htm)

[still life]

Jazzmoose,
The "urban legend" of the woman who was going to be stoned to death, like most urban legends, had more than a grain of truth to it.
On CBC Newsworld, this morning, she has been released and won't be stoned to death after all.
However, the Islamic law remains in effect, in Nigeria, regarding adulterous women.

[JSngry]

I would not feel so all alone...

[Tenorman]

Those of you in the US might be interested to note that a man in the UK has just been sentenced to life (Life in the UK means 7 years - pathetic, I know but we live with it) for slitting the throat of his daughter for going out with a Christian. This was an honour killing. As has been pointed out by a number of journalists, honour killing is not a widely held view amongst the Moslems who are now resident in "First World" countries.

I respect the right of anyone to worship as he or she wishes, providing that that worship does not impinge on the essential freedoms that I personally take for granted (and I realise that we could all write our own freedoms in here) Unfortunately every religion in the world produces its extremists who step outside the moral conduct which most of us take for granted.

When the population of this world learns respect for human life and then the respect for the dignity of human existence, then we might get somewhere. But until then ................

[Saundra Hummer]

Do any of you remember the case of the Middle Eastern man who killed his daughter here in the United States while the authorities listened in to his murdering her? It seems they had him under investigation for being a subversive, and they had bugged their home.

It was claimed that she was killed for being too western, wearing make up, dressing western, too sexy!

If I remember correctly, the reason he had killed her was he was afraid she would go to the authorities about his plots with others to try to commit terrorism against the U.S.

Could this be the problem with this poor girl? Honor killing what a primative thought. Several countries do this? They do, no need to answer this question.

[RonF]

Thanks for the post Johnny.

[Saundra Hummer]

Yes, Johnny, thank you for this post!

It has been quite a while since you had posted on this subject, and there was so much argument about it.

I am so glad to see that world opinion mattered tremendously, and turned the sentence over. Now I just hope that the tribal members don't do to her what so often happens in her part of the world. Murder is murder, and to have someone believe it is honorable to do such has to be turned around. It may take forever to do it, but someone needs to start the ball rolling, and it all starts with children being taught kindness, and respect for human life, not that a life should be ended for trivalities

Maybe we should flood these countries with books like The Ugly Duckling, Bambi, Black Beauty, Charlottes Web, and other childrens stories that teach a moral, and teach kindness. I am sure there are better ones than I have mentioned. We know most children thirst for knowledge, and how much easier, and economical it would be to bring them into the 21 Century with books and learning, rather than by bombs and invasions. Again simplistic, but who's to say this wouldn't be a good idea in the long run.